Did you know there are several different ways to sing a C-major scale?? Just as you can "speak, clap and count" rhythmic patterns, you can sing up and down the scale using three different methods - on the letters, on the numbers and using solfege syllables.
Each step of the scale is called a "scale degree" and each one has its own resonating capacity in the ears and in the body as you sing it. The ear must be able to differentiate between half-steps (white key to neighboring black key on the piano) and whole steps (the equivalent of two half-steps on the piano).
Singin' the C-major Scale is one of my favorite 5th grade lessons. It's an extension of a previous lesson on melody. This presentation involves visual processes, audiation and kinesthetic movement using Curwen Hand Signs while singing Latin syllables. It is a multi-sensory process that builds ear-training skills.
As I share with my students, someone made millions of dollars effectively combining scale degrees 1-4 (plus an added 7th for effect). The melody of the song "Lean on Me" is a perfect representation of this.
1...1-2-3-4...4-3-2-1...1-2-3, 3-2....
1...1-2-3-4...4-3-2-1...1-2-3, 7-1
Can you hear the melody inside your head? That is audiation.
Good singers depend on good audiation skills for sight-singing and ear-training.
Our lesson is closed out by viewing a video clip from "The Sound of Music" where Maria attempts to teach the children how to sing using "Do-Re-Mi" syllables. Anytime you can get 5th graders to sing in class, it is a good day in the music room.
"The Sound of Music" starring Julie Andrews (1965).
Words and Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
Until next time...
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